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Greetings!
We hope you had a great weekend. Here is
your
weekly Small Business Advocacy Council update.
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Republican Candidate Forum - May 22nd
Our Republican candidate forum will take place on
May 22nd at
our Northfield office. We will begin at 12:15 p.m. To RSVP contact Blanca Campos at Blanca@smallbusinessadvocacycouncil.org.
Robert Dold, 10th
District Candidate for Congress, will be addressing the group for 30 minutes. Afterwards, we will be holding a panel discussion with the following Republican candidates:
Feel free to submit written questions
for these
candidates in advance of the event. Otherwise, we will have an
opportunity to ask the candidates questions and voice our concerns
during the
forum.
Information concerning
our Democratic Candidate forum
will be available shortly.
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SBAC Happy Hour - May 27th
 Our next Happy Hour is
scheduled for May 27th in the
loop. We are currently deciding between a few locations and the exact
location will be included in our next newsletter.
Approximately 70 folks packed our April event at the
Lincolnshire Gourmet in Highland Park. Our members had the opportunity
to
mingle and talk business. Based on the number of folks that have
already
told us they will be attending, we are expecting another large
crowd this
month.
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SBAC Blog
Last week's
SBAC blog highlighted a stimulus program that
allows businesses to hire state-subsidized employees. This program matches
hard-working folks that need jobs
with employers that need additional staff.We can provide members
with additional information about the program or you can obtain
more information at the Illinois Department of Human Services.
We also posted:
- An informative article from the Wall Street Journal highlighting
incentives available for small businesses that install renewable-energy
equipment. We thank SBAC member Ron Cowgill for bringing this article
to
our attention. |
Advocacy
At our recent policy meeting, the SBAC
members in
attendance (over 25) supported drafting a petition which:
- Stresses that the current
lending crises has caused extreme hardship for small businesses.
- Directs the government
and our financial institutions
to take prompt and urgent action to address the situation.
- Petitions the government to
make returned TARP money available to small business owners and pass
adequate
regulations that ensure those funds are used by financial institutions
in the
appropriate manner.
This petition will be drafted by the
May 22nd
candidate forum and presented to members in attendance after the
forum. Once the language has been approved, we will circulate this
petition on-line and through personal visits to small
businesses.
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Membership
Michael Cavanaugh, co-chair of our membership
committee, circulated a referral form to our members last week. We
thank
all those that have sent back completed forms
Michael has secured a
skybox for a White Sox game on June 5th. The five SBAC
members who provide the most leads who actually join the council will
be our guests for the game. They can
be E-mailed to SBAC Vice President Blanca Campos at Blanca@smallbusinessadvocacycouncil.org or sent to our office.
We now
have
over 85 members. Indeed, over ten new members officially joined the
SBAC last week. If you are receiving this newsletter and are not a
member,
please visit our website and consider joining. You can also contact us
for
additional information.
It is our mission to do all in our power to help our
members
prosper. Indeed, the stronger each member of the SBAC becomes, the
more we can do to help each other and push forward the agenda of small
business
and hard-working Americans. Our power does not come from
lobbyists or through large campaign contributions. Rather, there is
strength in our numbers and desire to
be heard.
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Announcements
- SBAC member Chuck Krugel, an attorney, will be part
of a panel presentation for Business Network Chicago's Entrepreneur's
Committee
on Wednesday, May 12th, from 8:30AM until 11AM. This presentation
will address hiring issues for startups and small businesses. For
more information, you can contact Susan Barahia at sbarahia@bnchicago.org or
312-371-3786, or check out BNC's website at http://www.bnchicago.org/index.php. It's at
Wells Fargo Advisors, 222 S. Riverside Plaza (Adams & Canal),
Chicago, 3rd
Floor.
- Mr. Krugel has also been elected to the
Lakeside Community Committee's Board of Directors, an organization
facilitating quality foster care and related services for needy
children;
reuniting biological parents and their children; and strengthening the
social and economic base of Chicago's Grand Crossing neighborhood and
surrounding communities.
- SBAC member James Karamanis secured a $900,000.00 settlement in a medical negligence case after jury selection
in Cook
County. We would like to congratulate Mr. Karamanis on this
settlement.
- The Commercial Division of the National Association of Realtors® presents
its latest
Technology & Intelligence Briefing podcast and report featuring SBAC
member Geoffrey Kasselman, SIOR, LEED AP of Op2mize, LLC. Listen here. Download the RCA Spring
2010
"Commercial Connections" Report here.
- SBAC member Marie Platowski-Beals would like to announce that there are currently Executive Office Suites available at the Business Network Center. The Business Network
Center provides a turn-key office solution designed with core
features, services and networking built in. Their unique concept has
turned an entire mid-rise office building into an executive office suite
community. For more information contact Marie at (847) 441-4111 or at MPlatowski@aol.com.
- Larry Neems is married to
SBAC member Erica Neems. Larry is a strong and
creative executive with over 20 years of experience, looking to take a
small to meduim size business to the next level. Most recently, Mr.
Neems was the Acting CEO and CFO of a credit card processing company
servicing
over 5000 merchants. Please contact us in the event you know
of a small or medium size business that could benefit from Mr. Neems
services.
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Take care,
Elliot Richardson
Small Business Advocacy Council |
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